001Welcome everybody. Pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act, public notice of this meeting has been given by the board secretary in the following manner. Posting written notice on the official bulletin board at the Vorhees Township Public Schools Administrative Building on July 8th, 2024. Sending written notice to the Courier Post on July 8th, 2024. filing written notice with the clerk of Vorhees Township on July 8th, 2024 and posting on the Vorhees Township website on July 8th, 2024. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Board secretary, will you please call the role? Mr. Bryce, here. Miss Kettover here. Mrs. Munan here. Mr. Rosen here. Mr. Rosner
002here. Mrs. Ruer here. Mrs. Stewart here. Miss Verie here. Mrs. Watson here. Thank you. Okay. Can I get a motion to open the public hearing on the 2025 2026 budget? So moved. Rudder. Second. First. I'm sorry. I'm a little bit behind. What was the first one? Okay. All in favor? I I Okay. So, Miss Haley, I'm going to invite you to present the budget. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. Um, I will be going over our budget summary. Most of this you've seen before, so it'll be a review. Okay. Okay, so this is the budget summary for the 2526 school year. The budget process and timeline is laid out on this this timeline here where um it starts out with the board of education and it ends with the board of education. So we go through
003the various steps and the public should have copies of this too if you picked it up at the table. Um so we start with the board of education, we involve the building department administrators, the business office is involved. The finance committee meets to go over it. Then the full board gets copies of the budget. The business office has it again. Gets submitted to the county for review. And now we're at the public hearing of the budget. Okay. Some facts of the school of of the budget itself. When we're balancing a budget, the revenue side of it is made up of several things. The tax levy, which our tax levy is at 2%. State aid, other income, reserves, and fund balance. So all those items are the revenue side, and then we have the expense side.
004Um this year our our total state aid is 5,249,255. So that was an increase of 220,767. Um this there's a budget formula that's run and over the last few years there were adjustments to that budget formula. So a lot of people had gotten decreases. This is the first year the budget formula was run in total with no adjustments whatsoever. Uh some districts would qualify for equalization aid. We do not. So our aid went went up by the 220. However, last year there was a stabilization aid that we received and other districts did too of 473,000. So from our standpoint in real dollars, we went down because we did not get the stabilization aid. But the good thing is because the formula was run and we were funded at the full amount that we would qualify
005for, next year should be the same way and it'll probably go up because our enrollment will change unless they change the dollar amount per student. Then you know we don't know what that's going to be. Okay. The next item is the general fund budget is lower by 635,142. um and how when we're balancing the budget again we look at the revenue side and some things we we definitely say with the 2% and the state aid we know but other items we have to decide how much we're going to use from the reserves and so forth. So the net balance is less by 635,142 from last year. Um to fund that we have the tax levy and other tax levy, state aid and other income of about a million55,191, but we're using 1.5 million less in
006reserves and emergency reserves or less by 182. Um in order to balance the budget u we're financing larger purchases over the useful life of the assets such as um HBAC textbooks u and computers um textbooks are like three years computers I'm sorry textbook yeah textbooks are I think five years and the computers are three years and the HBAC is five years uh we restructured the use of RBTs we put out an RFP just to get competitive prices for RBTs and we do have some in-house RBTs and we restructured lead teachers ers uh we're consolidating kindergarten bus routes into K to5 routes. So before that the kindergarten students were on their own buses but now the kindergarten students that qualify for transportation will be on the same bus as first through fifth graders. Um and we're
007reducing other lines based on historical spending. Um in doing all that we we increase the tax levy by 2% which means an increase of a million48,920 for the budget revenue side. Um the state also calculates what our fair share would be and if we went up to their fair share if we were able to do that it would be a 16% increase where we're doing 2%. Um so we wanted to stay within not that we could go up to 16 but some districts have really they took advantage of the um tax levy incentive but we wanted to stay at the 2%. Uh the net valuation taxable that's the ratables in the town. So the ratables are somewhat flat. They increase by 1.86 million or 0.06%. So the tax rate is an increase of $82.52 per
008year or $6.87 per month on the average house. It's valued at $263,518. Because ratables increased, the tax effect is not really 2% on the taxpayer. It's 1.93%. As I mentioned, other other sources of the revenue side of the budget are reserves. So we're using 680,472 of capital reserve to do our capital projects. Um, we're using 456,363 of maintenance reserve and 4,049 to close out our emergency reserve. Emergency reserve can only be used for healthcare increases and security items. Um, the maintenance reserve that can be used for any kind of required maintenance and capital reserve can only be used for long-term projects. um in in deciding how much to use in those categories. For capital reserve, we decided what projects were needed, but also we did not want to deplete our capital reserve to be less
009than $2 million. So, we still have that much available for future. And maintenance reserve, we took that down to $500,000. So, that was our other decision like we want to keep this reserve here. We will use the offset to help balance the budget and do projects, fund balance. Um, when the auditors are here, they calculate how much must be taken from the year that you just closed to put into the next year. And that was 1,582846. And this year, we there's a calculation in the budget that says how much we should take out of the year that we're in based on where we are so far. So far, so the calculated amount applied is 1,339. Uh, we also have our preschool expansion aid. The budget next year is a total of 7,749 939 and that
010will cover 370 students. U we receive state aid for them. We have we have to transfer money into that fund 20 account uh for the inclusion students and we have carryover from 2425. Next page the next page is the budget fact sheet. So, it shows that our general fund budget, like there's three sections to our budget where there's a general fund, special revenue fund, um capital outlay, and debt service. We don't have a debt service fund because we don't have any bond debt. Um our capital reser our capital outlay represents our long-term projects. So, that's not included here either. And special revenue is our grants. So, the only thing on this that impacts taxes would be the general fund. So, if you compare year to year, you can see 2425 was 71 million, but that's
011because it includes a lot of capital. Oh, I'm sorry. Can you roll that back one? Just one. Yeah. Oh, no. Hm. The fact sheet's not there. Uh oh. Well, okay. Everybody has their print out, right? The printout. So, the fact sheet looks like this. No. Okay. I don't know. that it gets it's not there. Oh, okay. I don't know. Well, I will just explain it. You don't necessarily need to see it. This is the document that we make up internally, but the budget fact sheet um starts out our general fund budget is 71,153261 last year and this year it's 64,323 and the difference really is made up of capital projects. So, in order to make it comparable, we backed out the capital projects. So the comparison is about $64 million budget to a $63 million
012budget for a decrease of 635. The tax levy last year was 52,445979 and this year is 534948.99. So as I mentioned before it's an increase of a million48920. Everything I'm telling you right now on this chart was already talked about in the outline and I just went over. Um the ratables went up by 1.8 million. Again, the tax rate uh for the school tax rate will be a$160 a dollar 636, which is an increase of three cents, but that equates to 2% on our books and 1.93% on the taxpayer for an a the average home is valued at 263518. So, the annual increase is $82.52 or $6.87 per month. Okay. The next next chart just shows is a visual of our revenue side of the budget and you can see the 72.6% represents the local
013tax levy. So most of the revenue is from the local tax levy and then there's um 16.10% of state aid and that's pretty comparable for this area. Other districts nearby have a comparable if not more percentage of the local tax levy. The next slide is the operating budget and you can see that the biggest part of our operating budget is made up of regular and special ed and employee benefits and those are staff members all so the biggest part of any school district is going to be the staff. Okay. And then the next page is our advertised budget. So, an advertised budget is really a download from the state software and it uh has to be in the newspaper at least 4 days before this hearing. It was in the newspaper on the 30th of
014April. It lists our our enrollment and our projected enrollment. It lists every single revenue line item by account number and for revenue and also appropriations. It has um the recap of balances which shows what the maintenance reserve is, capital reserve, different reserves. Uh it has the per pupil costs and um then then it also has the capital projects that we're doing with the capital reserve money. So I'll read that statement that is also part of what we'll vote on tonight. So included in budget line 620 budgeted withdrawal from capital reserve is 680,472 for deposit into the board of education's approved capital reserve account for future funding of various capital projects to maintain the facilities such as installation of security cameras and systems for 83,000 door hardware security enhancements 475,000 and a playground upgrade of 122,472
015that's split funded um that's going to be at Crescent and that's split funded between uh CER and the regular budget. The aggregate cost of these projects is 680,472 which represents expenditures for construction elements or projects that are in addition to facilities efficiency standards determined by the commissioner as necessary to achieve the New Jersey student learning standards. That this statement that I just read is something that we're required to put in there whenever we use capital reserve. Okay. The next page after this, yeah, keep going. Yes, thank you. Is the actual motion. So, um on the agenda is the budget itself. And there's several items that we have to mention. So, we mentioned that the tenative budget was approved and submitted to the county on March 12th. It was approved by the county on April 1st.
016We advertised it on April 30th and we're having the public hearing now. The general fund and these are the different the different funds I was mentioning. General fund is 64,323791. Special revenue fund that's like our idea grant, our preschool grant, all those different items. That's 9,355665. And the total budget is 73,679456. The tax levy is 534948.99. The other items that have to be listed are the approval of the capital reserve withdrawal, which I read what what's in there. That's 680,472. The capital reserve projects are detailed in the next statement of purpose. The maintenance reserve withdrawal is 456,363. The emergency withdrawal 4,49 and we're putting it towards health care uh because we're allowed to do that if healthcare exceeds 4%. Um, ours went up higher than that, but the state health benefits went up even more
017than ours did. We're part of a a school's health insurance fund. And then the last item, we have to get travel regulations approved. And that's really not travel per se. It's any kind of seminars that that people would go to. So, we have to disclose, you know, what those costs are as well. So, that is everything. Does anybody have any questions? I guess I can I'll sit down that way if we have questions from the public too, we can Thank you, Miss Haley. So, I'm opening the floor for public comment specifically about the budget. If anyone has questions or wishes to make a comment, please do so. Good evening. Um I just I do have two questions for the budget. Um one um is it possible to get a line item budget to review um
018to go through them? A lot of the board meetings I've watched um I know there's been line budget items so we can go by item by item. Um and then two um I wasn't sure if there could be a breakdown for the door hardware verse um if there wasn't hardware we could have purchased instead of putting in new doors on that. Um the so we've put in new door hardware, but in addition, we've also replaced a lot of doors that seemed like they were good shape. It might have been that feasibly it didn't work because they might have had to reconfigure it or if there was door hardware that would allowed us not to replace so many solid wood doors um that just went in the dumpster. Thank you. Um the budget line items um
019the advertised budget lists the lists all the appropriation lines. So you can look at that. Um, also we'll be putting out a user-friendly budget tomorrow. So that lists them too. Uh, other than that they collapse like we have them by location internally in systems 3000, but it collapses to the the real account number. Really the location number helps us internally for purchase orders and where things get shipped and so forth and individual school budgets. But um, for advertisement purposes and budget purposes, it's condensed the way you're seeing it on the advertised budget. request. I like to go through them like I guess you can put in an oper request. That's what that would be my recommendation as to what you would want to see. Okay. Um as for the doors, okay, in in the budget
020for 2425, we did budget for replacement of windows and doors and so forth. and the doors that we replaced needed to be replaced. But as we were doing that, we also had like a security review and they recommended that we change locks. So, we kind of did a combination of things. Some doors were replaced and the locks were replaced along with it, you know, at the same time. Other ones we went and just replaced the locks because we wanted to roll it out as fast as we could, but you can't do it all in one year because the money is not there. So we did some of the schools in 2425 and we're doing the rest in 2526. So what we're doing with door replacement was needed. What we're doing with the hardware is something
021that we feel is best practices. Any other questions? Any other comments or questions from the public? Okay. Board comments. Okay, I'll just say Miss Haley, thank you so much for your discipline. Danielle, thank you so much for your discipline, um your thoroughess. We're very lucky to have you in this district. I say this every year, but I really especially this year feel it as I was involved in the finance committee and hearing the um the overview and hearing your report today. Thank you very much. Well, thank you. We appreciate that. And Danielle does a lot of this budget and uh we work closely together and I I really appreciate her work as well. Any other board comments? Okay. Can I get a motion to close the public hearing on the 2025 2026 budget? So moved.
022Second. Online voting is open. Bryce, I can just take a a voice vote. Motion unanimously passes. Can I get a motion to adopt the final budget for the 2025 2026 school year and resolution as shown below? This is public comment content. I'm not going to read it and Miss Haley read most of it, but so right now I'm asking for a motion to adopt the budget. So moved. Second. Online voting is open. Motion unanimously passes. Fantastic. Okay, we're moving to awarding contracts for professional services. Can I get a motion to approve appointing the firm of Freightac Vice Hopkins I'm going to butcher this name Duthy PLC as architect of record for the period from July 21st 2025 through June 30th 2026 at a variable rate of $75 to $155 an hour budgeted at $40,000 as
023per the following resolution. Be it resolved that the firm of Freight Vice Hopkins Duthy PC be appointed architect of record for the Vorhees Township Board of Education for the period July 1, 2020 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Further resolved that this contract is awarded through comparable process procedures designed to provide for a fair and open process and awarding contracts for professional services based on qualifications, merit, and cost effectiveness. So can I get a motion to approve appointing this firm? So moved. Rudder. Second. Stuart online voting is open. The motion unanimously passes. Can I get a motion to approve appointing Todd Sailor of Bowman & Company LLP as auditor for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2026 fees based on time expended and hourly rates with a maximum of the following. General fund $65,500.
024CER $10,000. Food services $10,000 not to exceed $86,000 as per the following resolution. Please see the resolution for public content below. It's actually too small for me to read which is really sad. Can I get a motion to approve our auditor? So move. Second. Roer online voting is open. The motion unanimously passes. Okay. Motion to approve appointing Gorman, Danella, and Morlock as board solicitor for the period from July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2026 at a rate of 175 per hour budgeted at $95,000 per the following resolution again below for public content. Can I get a motion to approve? So moved on. Second online voting is open. Is it appearing? It's not appearing. It's not. Uhuh. H I don't know why. Oh, can I maybe I'll just It's not working for some reason. I'll take
025a roll call. Mr. Bryce, yes. Miss Ktober. Yes. Miss Mon? Yes. Mr. Rosen? No. Mr. Roser? Yes. Miss Ruer? Yes. Miss Stewart? Yes. Miss Verie? Yes. Miss Watson? Yes. The motion passes. Eight yes, one no. Can I get a motion to approve appointing Frank Cavalo of the firm Parker McKay as labor council for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2026 at a rate of $185 per hour budgeted at $15,000 as per the resolution seen below for public content. Moved. Bunion. Second. Rudder. Online voting is open. Not showing up right now. It is. Oh, I didn't mean to abstain. I hit the wrong button. Mine's a yes. Yes. Okay, I'll fix it. Okay. The motion unanimously passes. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve a professional physician services contract between the Vorhees Township
026Board of Education and Dr. David Corinardo for the period from July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2026 for a contracted amount of $20,000 $20,900. So moved. Rosma second. Stewart online voting is open, Miss Birdie. Okay, thank you. Uh, the motion unan unanimously passes. Can I get a motion to approve all items under district reorganization? So moved. Second. Online voting is open. not coming up. It came up but then disappeared. Okay. I don't know what's happening but I will call the role. Mr. Bryce, yes. Miss Kettover. Yes. Miss Mon? Yes. Mr. Rosen? Yes. Mr. Rosner? Yes. Oh. Oh, now it's working. Oh, yes. The motion unanimously passes. It all showed up all the time. It's one of those days. Oh no, it's kind of laggy today. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes
027of the March 12th, 2025 regular board meeting? So moved. Rosner. Second. Roer. Online voting is open. I don't know. Okay, it's working. It's working. Yeah, it stays. Save the other one. Eight yeses, one abstension by Miss Stewart. Motion passes. Okay, moving on. Information items. You get a little break. Uh, Mrs. Watson, do you have any comments? Uh, no. We were just going to ask for the two ad hoc committee um two ad hoc committee chairs to provide um some excuse me some brief comments on u what occurred at both of those ad hoc meetings. So, Miss Verie and Mr. Bryce um if they could share that would be helpful. Yes. Thank you. So, Miss Verie, if you wouldn't mind giving us an update on the strategic plan ad hoc committee. Yes, absolutely. The um ad
028hoc committee on strategic planning met for the first time last month. We discussed goals and timeline to kickstart the strategic planning process. Um we looked at some other strategic plans from neighboring districts and discussed whether or not we wanted to engage a facilitator to help us with this process. Um we left off that we would ask New Jersey School Boards Association for a quote um as well as look into what other um what facilitators had been used by neighboring districts. So that work is now happening. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Bryce, could you give us an update on the disciplinary action ad hoc committee? Yes, I can. Um the discipline disciplinary action uh ad hoc committee uh met for the first time last week. uh we were able to uh receive the data
029for all the disciplinary actions that occurred uh in all the schools in the last five years. I want to take a moment to thank Dr. Hackett and her team for putting that uh uh data together. I know it took a lot and we're just um very thankful for that. Um but as we uh perused it and and and um pondered it, we we had some initial questions at first and but also wanted more time to just you know continue to analyze and ponder it and um just to break down the data a little further as we continue to have discussions and meetings and we'll be uh meeting uh again uh sometime next week uh if all available to be able to continue that um exploration of the data and come up with uh a consess
030a consensus and also just some suggestions that we could add to the whole a team that's already participating in that um you know disseminating that discipline. Thank you, Mr. Bryce. Fire drills and safety drills as shown on the attachment. Harassment, intimidation, and bullying report as shown on the attachment and suspensions also as shown on the attachment. We received no OPER requests this month. Board secretary report. Yes, you're up again, Miss Haley. That's right. Yes. Um over every break there's always a lot of work being done. So I would like to thank Mr. Matthysse and also Mr. Higgs and their staff uh because they really cram a lot of work in a short amount of time. Um so some of the work that they did during spring break uh at this building you probably noticed that
031our parking lot has been paved that was really needed. Um so parking lot repaving and line that was in our budget. Our capital reserve money was used for that in the 2526 sorry 2425 budget. Uh lobby lights were upgraded to LED lights and at every location the flag pole inspection was completed and HVAC filters were changed out. Uh landscapers also perform spring cleanup cut and mulched at all locations. At the middle school, the mini gym uh has a new HVAC RTU installed and B12 had a new HBAC RTU installed. Uh the contractor, we have ROD grants that are going to be starting soon. Uh we had put them out to bid. um they involve boilers at two of our schools and HVAC repair replacement in a wing at VMS. So the contractor tooured the site
032for the HBAC replacement at VMS. Um and produce was received and distributed throughout the district. Uh Signal Hill, the walk-in freezer was emptied, cleaned, and rebuilt components and painted the floor. And the contractor for the Rod Grant, which is a different contractor, toward that for the boiler replacement project at Hamilton. The same type of uh work was done as I had mentioned in all schools. And at Osage, the the Rod Grant contractor tooured for the boiler replacement and tree service removed uh tree service removed overhanging tree branches along the residential property line due to the playground safety concerns and pest control work was done as well. I have one other item that I didn't write on here. Um I would like to give an update on the Vorhees Early Childhood Development Center building. Uh we
033had hoped that we would open for students on May 5th. Uh that did not happen. Uh we believed that uh we had met the TCO which is temporary um certificate of occupancy requirements um based on the experience of our architect and the construction vendor. However, the inspector the building inspector uh inspectors requested that additional items be addressed. All these items will be completed by Friday and we are requesting an inspection early next week. hopefully early next week if not mid next week. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Hackett. Superintendent report. Thank you very much. Good evening everyone. Um there were several questions from our March 12th board meeting that I'd like to respond to. Uh the first question was regarding policy 5111. Um and the question was what is the county tuition rate? So the county
034tuition rates are different for each school district. um is based on the actual uh audited per pupil cost from the previous school year and that's used to set used to set the upcoming tuition rate. So for example, our preschool and kindergarten rate is $17,341 a year. Um for our multiple um disabled students, it's $96,533 a year. And I'll give you one more example. Grades 6 to8 is $17,255 a year. So, it's based on each individual district's audited per pupil cost from the year before. Um, regarding policy 5111, why are parents given 12 weeks to enroll when they are in a contract to buy, build, or rent a residence? Um, this is a very will be a very rare occurrence and will require the parent to submit extensive paperwork to support the purchase, construction, or rental
035of a residence in the township. and all documentation will be submitted will be thoroughly vetted. Uh the next question was regarding policy and regulation 7441 is the goal to add audio to our camera system and that is not the goal at this time. It's in the policy just in case um audio would ever be added but it is not our goal to add audio to our cameras. Um are we on target for the opening date for our early childhood development center? And Miss Haley just gave that update. Um, will preschool students in the provider sites go to our early childhood development center? Um, that answer is no because we will need all of the classrooms that we currently have. In addition to the 19 classrooms at our new building, we still need the um classrooms
036at our two provider sites and at Crescent in order to accommodate the total universe of 500 students. The New Jersey Department of Education um based on their calculation rate uh calculated that we will have 500 preschool 3 and preschool 4 students. So we need all of the classrooms that we have. How we will we utilize the staff hired for for the students that will be coming? So we have hired um 16 of our 19 teachers and they have been assigned to uh buildings all year. They did some training and they've been assigned to classrooms all year. Um hopefully when we open the building this year, we anticipate about 110 of the previously registered 300 students will attend. Some students did drop off because the building was not opening um as we had anticipated. So we're
037still expecting about 110 students to start this school year. Each teacher will have approximately eight students in the classroom and this will allow uh intensive targeted instructional program for the remaining weeks of the school year. Um, are the are the V uh teachers being trained and is the administrator being trained? So, yes, our teachers have been trained all year. They've been pulled periodically from their assignments to receive full day training. Our early childhood administrator is an experienced preschool administrator and has worked with administrators both at Crescent and at the provider sites. Um, how will the district be impacted by the layoffs at the United States Department of Education? The new New Jersey districts received guidance from the NJ DOE, New Jersey Department of Education, and at this time we have not received any guidance regarding
038um any impacted layoffs um at the United States Department of Education. But if we receive any, we will certainly let um our community know. So, moving to this agenda, um we held a Zoom parent meeting on March 27th at 6 o'clock for our kindergarten parents to explain the changes that we're making to the kindergarten transportation for the 2526 school year. And we will have two additional meetings because we only had about six parents attend. So, we want to give the opportunity for more parents to attend, plus our new parents who are registering now. So, we sent out a um an email this week, early this week, inviting all of our current um preschool parents and our newly registered kindergarten students. Uh we'll have two more meetings and that will be on May 28th and August
03919th again at 6:00. And hopefully that we'll get more uh kindergarten parents so that we can explain to them um the changes that we're making to the transportation for kindergarten students and all the things that we have in place to ensure their safety. I'm just proud to announce that on Saturday, April 12th, there was an art exhibit featuring artwork by some of our students uh with special needs. This was featured by the Vorhees Rotary Breakfast Club in conjunction with Kingsway Learning Center. The artwork of our students was amazing and we are so proud of them. Each student received a certificate of appreciation. So, I want to acknowledge uh Dr. Aligree and Miss Ross for for making sure that our students participated in this event. It was wonderful. Thank you. And I want to acknowledge our
040middle school students, our science olympiad team. The Vorhees Middle School Science Olympiad team had an incredible 24-25 season. Their hard work and dedication paid off as they placed fifth in the regional competition and 23rd in the state competitions. Can we give them a round of applause? We are so very proud of all the accomplishments of our students and I actually miss having a presentation today at this meeting. So that ends my report. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Moving on to audience participation on agenda items. Anyone wishing to address the board, please approach the podium and write your name and address on the login sheet. While the board is limited in its ability to respond to the public on matters involving personnel, litigation, negotiations, and attorney client privilege, the board will now hear comments from the
041public relating to items on the agenda for this board meeting. Comments are limited to three minutes. The board will not take action this evening. You will be notified at some later time by letter, electronic mail, telephone, or in the context of a later board meeting of any action the board does take. Good evening. A couple questions on the tuition rate. It wasn't what we charged. We submit a charge what we would require staff to pay if they attend a preschool and the county superintendent would approve it. So, if you're a non-eing staff member and have your child attend preschool through the lottery, that tuition, that tuition would be what we submit that we want that staff member to pay, not what we I know what the uh the 17,000, but in the policy for tonight,
042uh 511, um we will submit that and non-E because I figure if you're a non-eing staff member, it's being requested, they would have to pay for their child to attend preschool, what would the amount be? um so they could make an educated decision. Um thank you for changing the bills list back to what it was. Very easy to follow now. Um I did have a couple questions. Somebody um you know took accounting classes. I'm just curious why the mild reimbursement is not put in more recent. Um traditionally it's supposed I know most people who put in expense reports you put it in monthly maybe every two months. We have some for a while. Um I always track that. And then we have Delta T group CST mileage for I just wasn't sure what this was
043for $950 and $550 for a total of $1,500. Um I just wasn't sure if that just could be a group thing, but that was on the bills list. Um the next question I have is on the actual building. Um I'm surprised some of the changes we're being asked to make. Um I follow all the township board meetings. I follow Gibsboro's. Um I know we're being asked to rip up the sidewalk and curbing. I'm surprised that cost doesn't come on the builder for not getting the approval ahead of time. The lighting, I know Gibsboro is specific on how they want their lighting. Um the fence around the HVAC, I'm surprised that wasn't anticipated because they want it covered from those. I drive both drove by the other day and I said those things are going to
044have to be raised because they're right near the attent retention pond which will cause cause flooding and that's on the list. Um, so I think some of those things that are weren't expected should have been and I'm not sure why the builder's not on the hook for that for not working more closely with them. Um, and I know at the earlier meeting last year we said our buildings maintenance um super uh supervisor was going to be going over monitoring. I'm just curious how often we've monitor it because in our policy it even has that we are supposed to go on site as the business secretary that we're supposed to be on site visiting it checking on things. Um I'm surprised that no board members actually visited the building. I understand construction protocol. You have to
045have the proper shoes, proper helmet, go through set areas to see firsthand where we're at. Um I I think it looks great. The people who've been there said it looks spectacular. Um but we built a building for about 15 million. It doesn't house the population. Um which is a we did the same thing with Crescent and originally we were going to use this building to build and we spoke. Sure. I will bring my other points up in the second part. Any other comments from the public? Okay, as we move into the business portion of our meeting, we want to recognize that it may appear as if the board takes action with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote. Before an item is placed on a board agenda, it is thoroughly reviewed by
046the superintendent and administration. The superintendent then presents the recommended action to the appropriate board committee and works with the committee to ensure that the members fully understand the recommendation. Once the committee is satisfied, the item is placed on a board agenda for discussion and action at a public meeting. Board agendas are made available to board members several days in advance of the meeting, giving us ample time to review the agenda and have all of our questions answered. Further, we are kept up to date between meetings on the ongoing work of the administration and the important issues in the district. All of these efforts ensure that we are well informed and prepared to take action at our meetings. Mrs. Branch Stewart, can I get a policy committee report? Sure. The policy committee met on April 29th
047for about an hour. Dr. Hackett, Mr. Moscowitz, and board members Julie Kettover, Crystal Man, Julian Birdie, and I were present. For first read, the committee reviewed and recommends for full board approval policy 0164.1, conduct of board members during public meetings. For second read, the committee reviewed and recommends for board approval. Policy 0155, board committees, policy 5111, eligibility of resident non-resident students, and policy 5701, academic integrity. The board also discussed the the results of the middle school cell phone pilot survey and immigration policy guidance. Our next meeting is currently scheduled for June 3rd. Thank you. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve all items under policy? So move Steuart second mon. Madame vice president I'd like to speak to policy 0164.1 before we vote. Okay. Please go ahead. Right. Uh I want to first
048apologize that I'm not able to be at the meeting in person tonight. I'm currently traveling for work. Um, but I did want to speak tonight about the policy on for first read, policy 0164.1, conduct of a board member. I want to start tonight with full transparency. This policy has been drafted and proposed with me in mind. Several board members have made it abundantly clear in both committee me meetings and in email correspondents that their intention is to curtail the way that I speak and engage with the public. if they have their way tonight and our next meeting may be the last times I am able to speak freely to our community from the deis. I don't take that light lightly and neither should anyone here because while it might be used against me for the
049first few months it will exist beyond me and can be used against any other board member who falls out of favor of the majority in the future. This proposed policy, policy 0164.1, is more than an attempt to promote decorum. It's an attempt to codify control. It suppresses open dialogue, mutes dissenting voices, and undermines the very foundation of public service. As board members, we are here not to just agree with one another for the sake of ease. We're here to bring diverse views to the table and challenge each other and the district when necessary in service of the public. Limiting board member comments to three minutes, regardless of the complexity of the topic, reduces serious governance issues to sound bites. Worse still, the policy uses vague and subjective terms like inflammatory, divisive, or untruthful language that
050could be easily twisted to silence disagreement. It empowers the board president to act as judge and jury, able to rule a member out of order without any clear or objective standard. I believe this seeds too much power to the board president, a member whose vote is no more powerful than anyone else's on this board. I would also hope that should this policy make it to a second read and full vote at the next board meeting that our board president will abstain from voting given the conflict in of interest innate in a policy proposal that gives new power to the board president. And while this policy technically allows for a vote to override the president's decision, the reality is this. No board member should have to gamble with a majority vote just to finish a comment.
051That's not democracy. That's not transparency. That's not the role the public elected us to fulfill. This policy creates a chilling effect not just for those of us on the deis but for the community watching. It sends a message that critique of the administration, even fact-based and necessary critique, is unwelcome. That pushing for accountability is somehow disrespectful. That raising uncomfortable truths is conduct unbecoming. But representing the community means being willing to make people uncomfortable sometimes. We are not elected to be rubber stamps. You've heard me say that before. We're not elected to preserve comfort or appearances. We were elected to speak up, especially when it's hard. Moreover, adopting a policy clearly intended to silence a single board member invites public distrust. It signals that disscent is not welcome, which runs counter to the transparency and accountability
052Vorhees residents expect from our meetings. Policies like 0164.1 sanitize public meetings, strips away robust debate, and insulates leadership from challenge. That may be easier in the short term, but it's not government governance. It's not ethical, and it's not right. Let's be clear. This policy isn't just chilling disscent. It's brushing dangerously close to unconstitutional territory. The Supreme Court has ruled in Bond versus Floyd that elected officials must have broad latitude to speak freely on matters of public concern. And here in New Jersey, the School Board Ethics Commission has repeatedly affirmed that board members do not violate ethics rules simply by criticizing the administration or expressing unpopular views. We have a right and duty to speak plainly, to raise concerns, and to challenge the status quo without fear of censorship from our colleagues. We do not lose
053our First Amendment rights when we are voted into this office. And let's talk about priorities. The policy committee of which I am a member has spent a stunning amount of time contemplating how to silence dissenting voices. An entire year to be exact. But where is the same energy for the real work our students need us to do? We have a great district, but that doesn't mean we don't have work to do to make it better. While this committee fixates on speech restrictions, we have not drafted or debated a single meaningful policy initiative that hasn't come directly from our third party policy vendor or been handed to us by the administration. I drafted a policy on school disciplined. It was never even allowed a discussion. I drafted a policy on immigration enforcement on school grounds. It
054was dismissed out of hand as unnecessary. But here we are ready to spend our time and energy passing a policy to shut up a board member. Where's the substance? Where are the conversations that matter? Because our students don't benefit from this policy. Our families don't benefit from this policy. Our faculty do not benefit from this policy. The only thing it protects is fragile egos and unchecked authority. While the intention to maintain respectful and efficient meetings is valid, policy 0164.1 overreaches by silencing disscent, concentrating too much power in the board president and endangering democratic participation. I urge this board to reconsider this policy not just for me but for every board member who comes after us and for every member of our community who deserves to hear from it elected to represent us. For these reasons,
055I am asking that we table the first read consideration of this policy or send the draft policy 0164.1 entirely or vote no at the next meeting if this were were to get to a second read. Thank you. I have a comment too on this policy. Um while I don't share all of the thoughts of my colleague um there have been statements here that um have not been on point um by board members and not just miss farity as she thinks this is only related to her um that have been untruthful and in service of things that don't benefit the district. Now, I think that's it's worthy to keep people on the board on task and doing the right things, although I don't agree with the time limitation. Um, so for that reason, I'm going to
056vote no on this first policy today and I think we can have further discussion about it. Uh, but for, you know, reasons that might be different than Miss Fares. Thank you. I'll just weigh in because I am on the policy committee that I'm deeply offended by the mischaracterizations of what we do on this committee. We've had robust conversations about a lot of policies throughout the year. Um and I I take issue with Ms. Bird's characterization of how we work together. Um it's offensive. Thank you. Just to clarify, I did not say that we don't have robust conversations. I said, you've already commented. So like personal we heard what you said. We heard. Yes. And you personal privilege used my name. So it I didn't say that. I said there hasn't been a substantive piece of
057policy that has been developed by the board itself, by the committee itself. All we've gotten, all we discuss are changes that Strauss Esme, our third-party vendor, gives us for us to look at and and and uh make decisions on. And there's been a few that have come directly from the administration. But I would ask what what other policy has this committee actually looked at and actually what policy have we passed in a year that has come from policy members themselves? There's not been one. Um I would like to to make a comment as well. Um, I'm not going to I I like Miss Cuttover um am highly offended um by many of the comments that were made and in fact this policy is to I mean excellent demonstration of why this policy is absolutely necessary.
058Um the the comments that are made are not meant during a board meeting to one toot our own horns, talk about all of the the things that we've tried to accomplish but for whatever reason have not been able to accomplish. Two, basically throw everyone else under the board on the board under the bus for whatever reasons we deem appropriate because you're not getting whatever way it is. You use things like our fragile egos that I'm trying to obtain extra power when I had nothing to do with this policy quite frankly at all um and that I should abstain from a vote for a policy that I did not write um but do in fact endorse and do believe is necessary because of the behaviors that have happened over the last several years on this board.
059Specifically, people have abused their power to make comments, have used it as a platform to push their own agendas that did not support district objectives or district goals. And I don't think that it's an an absolutely innane ask to have the co the board have the same limitations that our community members have, which is to three minutes to speak. Board members have lots of opportunities to speak on different issues both during committee me meetings. They have time during the actual agenda to raise questions. They have ample time to raise all different types of issues. So voices are never thwarted. People have opportunity to share their thought. Descents are always welcome. In fact, descent is welcomed the most during committee so that we can bring the most highly thoughtful and efficient and effective policies and ideas
060to recommendation at board meetings. So, um again, I take issue with much of what was raised. Um I support this. I support the three minutes because I do believe that the board should have the same restrictions that the community members do and we have ample opportunity in other platforms to raise our concerns. Thank you, Miss Kver. Yes, I'll simply add as the policy chair, I I absolutely am offended. I stand behind the work of the policy committee. I have found lots of interest and I great collaboration amongst the members of the policy committee and most of the members of the board and I look forward to the day that we can spend committee time and board time not managing tantrums of adults. Thank you. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve all items under
061me? Oh, sorry. That's okay. Okay. So, um I guess I'll open online voting and if you want to vote no in a certain area, maybe put no and then I'll ask or we can do three and four separately. You can do three and four separately or you could you could mark your vote and then just verbally say which ones you're not voting yes to. Whichever whichever is easier. So vote yes and then say I'm not voting yes to the one. Is that clear for everyone on the board? Yes. Okay. Online voting is open. Okay, all the votes are in. Um, I would like to ask if anyone there is a no vote. Miss Vie votes no. So, Miss Vie, are you voting no on both items or is there a specific one? I should voting
062no on 16.3. Does anybody Does anybody else want to vote no on a certain I'm voting no on 16.3 for the reasons stated in my comments. I am also voting no on 16.3. Anyone else? Uh the motion carries. I have eight yeses, one no. Oh, actually I should say eight. I should say nine yeses, but three nos on I'm sorry. Let me Okay, let me back up again. We have nine yeses overall. We have three nos on 16.3. So 16.3 still passes because we have six yeses and three nos. Mrs. Rudder, can I get a committee report for academic excellence? Sure. Um, the academic excellence and technology committee met on April 28th for about an hour. It was myself, Mr. Bryce, Miss uh, Cadover, Dr. Hackett, and Mr. Moscowitz. We are not recommending any action
063to the board at this time. However, we did have many conversations. Um, we discussed the digital citizenship programs that are taking place in each grade. We had a conversation about adding a question to the CER survey next year um asking the students at the end what other classes they would like CER to offer. And we talked about opening up a second section of the Lego club because that one does seem to fill up quickly and we want to make sure that all children that are interested are able to attend that one. Um we had a great conversation about 9th grade teacher survey. The current uh teachers in Eastern will be taking part in a survey. It will be administered in January of 2026. The committee was pleased with the survey question and agrees with the
064timeline to implement it. We talked about the new uh requirement for a universal screener for children in grades K through three. We talked about middle school students having access to Genesis and the timeline of that because it will be rolled out um to different grades. By the end of marking period 4, all BMS students will have access to their Genesis grades next year. And then we talked about participation in the supportive schools peer group connection, which everyone in the committee felt was a wonderful peer mentoring program. However, there was problematic survey questions that came with it. So, we are not moving forward with that at this time. And that's all I've got. Thanks. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve all items under curriculum? So, moved. Second. Rudder. Online voting is open. Motion
065unanimously passes. Okay, Mr. Rosner, can I get a personnel committee report? Yes. A personnel committee met on May 1st, Thursday, May 1st. Um, in attendance, Miss Watson, Miss Rudder, Dr. Hackett, Miss Donnelly, and Mrs. Danella for a couple topics. myself. Uh we discussed um a settlement that's on the agenda tonight. We discussed contract renewals. We discussed a stipen for maternity support where a certified teacher that's covering a classroom for um a newly returned mother um would have a stipend. Uh we discussed to cover that classroom for the hour. Um, we discussed the option of doing a board length cleanup during Earth Day. We're going to push to the backlog for next year because we didn't get to it this year or have the discussion. And then we discussed the 2627 calendar. Thank you. Thank you.
066Can I get a motion to approve all items under personnel as recommended by the superintendent? So moved. Rudder. Second. Browser online voting is open. Motion unanimously passes. Mr. Rosend, can I get a finance committee report? Yes. The finance committee met on Wednesday, April 30th. Uh Julie Kettover, Crystal Mun, Dr. Hackett, Helen Haley, and Daniel Kerry, and myself attended. We discussed 14 items, so I'll run through them. Um we discussed the 2025 2026 budget, which has been approved by the county and advertised. Uh and the committee's recommendation is approval, and we voted that on that earlier in this today's meeting. Uh number two, we reviewed the treasures report and investment income and the committee is recommending approval. Number three, we discussed food service. Preston Hamilton and Hamilton now qualify for national school breakfast for the 2526
067school year and also the renewal of the neutraserve contract and the committee is recommending approval of the contract renewal. Number four, we discussed pro procurement. We reviewed the different allowed and required methods based on New Jersey regulations. Um, and we also converted all the contracts uh to the school's fiscal year rather than the calendar year. This covers professional service contracts, substitute staffing services, groundskeeping, insurance, and computer equipment. Number five, the Vorhees Early Childhood Development Center. We reviewed the required change orders based on requirements that were unforeseen or needed to move the project forward. We discussed the reasons for the delays and the holdup of the temporary certificate of occupancy. The district held a face-to-face meeting with the Vorhees township officials to clarify the requirements for a TCO as compared to a CO. Voorhees has a
068new construction inspector and we must abide by his interpretations of the building codes resulting in additional requirements. After that meeting, we are hopeful that further clarification will be forthcoming from the township to secure the temporary certificate of occupancy promptly. Food service will be transported from another school until the kitchen is completed, which is expected for the commencement of the school year in September 2025. The committee is in favor of approving the required change orders. Number six, uh we talked about the demographic report and capacity issues. Um the demographic report will be distributed to the board and ongoing and we will have ongoing discussions as enrollment and residential construction projects develop in the township. Number seven, the ROD grants and other capital projects. words are discussed and and the renovation of one set of staff bathrooms
069at VMS and the committee is in favor of that. Number eight, uh we discussed lease p and purchasing financing award and we're in favor of that. Number nine, we talked about the solar initiative and the district is to reach out to a consultant to evaluate the potential during the summer of 2025. Number 10, trans. We discussed transportation modification to consolidate kindergarten with grades 1 through 5 with consistent transportation eligibility criteria and it's on track for the coming 2025 2026 school year. The district held a meeting to review with parents and will have additional informative sessions and this was item that was previously approved. Number 11, the district met with township officials to review formalizing a shared services agreement for trash collection, which has been an informal agreement till now. Um, we also discussed the was
070discussed the ownership and use of the Marot Ma Roto Sports Complex, if I pronounced that correctly, and associated liability concerns. Um, also future housing developments and the impact on existing school capacity. Um, the committee is in favor of a of formalizing a shared service agreement and a facilities use agreement to indemnify the district for township use of the sports complex. Number 12, reviewed the draft agenda for this board meeting. 13, we discussed coordinating with the strategic planning committee and the committee is developing our contribution to the strategic plan. And finally, number 14, the next finance committee meeting is on Wednesday, June 4th, 2025. Thank you. I want to thank all of our committee chairs for their leadership and their comprehensive reports. Can I get a motion to approve all items under transportation? So moved. Oops.
071My apologies. I skipped over. Can I get a motion to approve all items under finance? So moved. Second. Rudder. Online voting is open. Motion unanimously passes. Can I get a motion to approve all items under transportation? So moved. Second. Online voting is open. I think so. Motion unanimously passes. Can I get a motion to approve all items under buildings and grounds? So moved. Second. Rozer. Online voting is open. Motion unanimously passes. Public comment. Anyone wishing to address the board, please approach the podium and write your name and address on the login sheet. While the board is limited in its capacity, sorry, while the board is limited in its ability to respond to the public on matters involving personnel, litigation, negotiations, and attorney client privilege, the board will now hear comments from the public relating to
072it. Sorry, this is for any items not on the agenda for this board meetings. For this board meeting, comments are limited to three minute minutes. The board will not take action this evening. You will be notified at some later time by letter, electronic mail, telephone, or in the context of a later board meeting of any action the board does take. Hi, I uh for my friends that are here, um I'm personally going to say that I don't know anyone on the board. I don't know Miss Verdie. I don't know Mrs. Watson. Um, I've had conversations with Dr. Hackett. I know some of our administrators. Um, I'm going to talk about policies 0164.1. I walked in these doors in 1991 and now people are asking me if I'm ready to retire and the answer is no.
073I love what I do and I'm proud to say that I do it well. On most days, I'm a better teacher than I am anything else in the world because I love my kids and I love the conversations that they have. I love the questions that they ask. I love that they disagree and I love that they ask each other, "How'd you come up with that? Why do you believe that? This policy goes against every philosophical belief I hold as a teacher. If I were to say that I was the only one in power that I deem who's unworthy of a comment, you should be questioning. You should be disagreeing. You should be welcoming conversation. And yes, you're right. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but I do know that when we
074had about 60 staff members here concerned about a calendar, one person spoke up and said, "I disagree with this. I know I agree with the calendar as a parent. I agree with it, but there's something wrong here." and nobody else said anything. We value you. We look to you to continue to make this district strong. But since 1991, we've never had a decorum policy. Good evening. Um, I want to first start off by thanking Dr. Hackit and Helen Haley because when I do ask for information I do get it. So at no point me coming here should I never want to be perceived as adversarial because every time I do get things I have I I'm generally not somebody who asks questions uh behind the scenes. I like just ask him out in front. So
075I um I would like to come back to the days where I can just come and say all the good things are going on. Um this is not anything connected to that policy. However, um I was going to ask about policy 167, which is board public participation meetings that in there. I know we can't discuss litigation, contract, all that, but I was requesting if there are times that the board could respond to questions, especially on a policy um that I mean, Dr. Heck always responds back to me. I usually get them the next day. Um, but there's nothing in the policy that prohibits you from responding to just simple questions on the cell phone policy and things like that. Um, I know the other things that are excluded. Um, like I said, my answers are
076always responded quickly. I just think sometimes it might be good. I know the questions have to be directed to the board president and to the people who would apply to. Um, second, um, I would hope I'm hoping we can go back to where we have our board minutes published. I know it's in our policy. Um, when I go to all the other towns, I can pull a board minutes from years ago and I know I can go to the administration to get them, but it is in our policy 168 that within 48 hours they're supposed to be published on a specific page on our web page that says board minutes. Um, I don't mind asking. Every time I've responded to Miss Intor, I get my response. Um but I do think most districts have it
077and it is in our policy that within 48 hours should be designated thing that we can get our board minutes. Um once again I attend most meetings but sometimes I do want to go back and look. Um the other one on the electronic device um and I don't run out of time so I'll sit down and come back up. Um, I reviewed that and I actually went through every policy last night from building to everything, every single one. And the current policy actually, if you read it, accomplishes most of what the state's doing. Um, by changing that, I'm just I just have a question. We talked back in September of the summer that we were going to be looking at this policy and we were going to have information at this. But to find out
078up to this point, we haven't contacted the local schools. We haven't contacted the teachers. We haven't done any of that stuff. And to do all that, um, I'm a small group classroom, so it won't apply to me. But I see so many slippery slopes with that and not even to to dialogue with the um with the middle school teachers who would but to actually say a child can bring their phone to recess the lunch hallways passing. I'll sit down and come back up. Any other public comment? comments from the board member. I thought I would be allowed to come up. No one else spoke that has it in the policies. I can't speak on the same topic for three minutes, but I am allowed to I have no issue with it. Sure with it. I
079have pulled out. No, it's okay. It's It's okay. Um, I have a daughter at Eastern. Um, and I do see the value of having a cell phone. Um, I know some of the concern was we've had some false alarms at one of our schools. I know we, um, board member was even contacted by a child during that meeting. I get the value, but I do think when you're looking at that type of a policy, you have to look at the ramifications. And one of the biggest problems we have is social media is things along those lines. My daughter put hers away. I don't really care what she does with it. Um, doesn't affect me as personally. I just think it's one of those policies that I'm just surprised that we did. I'm glad it was
080thought about and talked about and they're going to look at it again. Um, that would just be one that I would hope and that would be one maybe even if if you asked the question that you could respond, here's what our thoughts were behind that. Um, because I do see reason and I know one of the main things is this way um, teachers don't have to constantly complain about you putting it away. But to be honest with you, most of the problems aren't the kids having it, it's what they're doing with them. So them putting them being allowed to use it only to me as a elementary school teacher enhances the problems and enhances the privacy. Um and then I think if we look I don't think we should ban it and banning is never
081good for anything but I do think we should look at it. I'm just surprised that um you know when I read the policy I was caught off guard especially knowing what we had that you're not allowed to have them turned on when you're in school. So if there's emergency you could get it and turn it on and there that would resolve your issue of a parent being concerned. board comments. I'd like to make a comment. Um, I know this week is teacher appreciation week and the other day I went to uh pick up my son at CER and I saw these great signs out and it was really wonderful to see and you know I appreciated it because you know I thought the students were writing them and it was a really beautiful thing. And
082so I just want to thank the teachers for all the hard work that you put in every day with the needs of like tons of different kids at different places in their development even within a single class and just having life to deal with in general and dealing with all the emotions related to different kids and communicating communicating with them and them communicating with each other. So, you know, I've had a wonderful experience as a parent um with all of the teachers that my children have been um lucky to be with, and I just want to uh express that we appreciate you and thank you. And just one other thing, and I'm sure there's this is just for the general public. there's, you know, there I'm sure that there's pain being felt from the delay
083and in the opening of the building, um, and the inconvenience that that that, you know, has caused. Um, you know, I've personally had to deal with something like that on my own and figuring out these building codes is is very challenging. So, um, you know, I just want to express that like, you know, we understand that that can be painful for some of the people that had already made plans and, um, you know, we're doing our best tonight to get it open. So, thank you. Thankless you. Bless you. I'd like to make a comment. Um, I'd like to piggy back off of Jake's gratitude for the faculty. Last night I was at the middle school's concert for the band, orchestra, and chorus. I was literally blown away. Um, the talent in the room was unbelievable,
084especially considering these children are under the age of 15. While I was sitting there feeling an immense gratitude for the teachers and pride in the students, I looked around to see parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and siblings with huge smiles on their faces. There were people of different cultures, religions, and socioeconomic statuses all sitting together with nothing but love and joy in the room. And I started to think about how lucky I am to be part of the Vorhees community. I also reflected on what I have seen in education in the past 15 to 20 years. Uh, as some of you know, I've worked in public education for many years. Um, there have been endless cuts to budgets and bottom lines with the arts taking the biggest hits in districts across our country. It is truly a
085testament to the administration in Borhees that our music programs have not only maintained but grown and flourished over the years. I want to thank from the bottom of my heart Mrs. Haley for keeping us financially secure. I want to thank Dr. packet. And I want to give the biggest thank you of all to the staff at VMS for bringing the magic to life through our children every day. Last night truly filled my heart. Thank you. Other board comments. I just had a question and if I can at this point back to the policy was under 16.3. So, can one board member contribute their three minutes to another board member so they could speak longer than their allotted three minutes? Just to think about that. Okay. Thank you. We'll bring it to the policy committee for
086consideration. Um, I'd like to make a comment. First of all, you stole my thunder. You colleagues, thank you. I just want to thank you teachers and staff so much. My mother, I think I've mentioned this before, taught in public schools in New York City for decades. um by the end of her career, I think she was she was worn out and she was tired and she went into every school year and went into every class with vigor and creativity and innovation. And this is what I see from our teachers every day. And I really just want to express my thanks and my appreciation for all that you do, particularly in a difficult climate where we're facing cuts and often you're being asked to do more with less. So, thank you for your dedication to our
087children. Um, I don't know your name. Uh, you who you made the comment about the policy. I I want to really thank you for giving me food for thought um for encouraging me to think about this. And I want to just say that it's frustrating as a board member sometimes because we can't always share what goes on behind closed doors. To my mind, whether it's designed poorly, that's a separate question and I'm thinking about it. This is a governance issue. It is not intended to curtail speech to the extent that it does. I I you know I like I said I'm thinking about it. We have had unfortunately issues on our board with grandstanding and abuse of power and this is not designed to quell um dissent and disagreement. the calendar which you brought up.
088We had so much conversation about the calendar and again it's unfortunately not something you can always hear because it happens behind closed doors and in committees. I'm asking for your trust that we are trying to do right by this district and we are trying to ensure that we're fulfilling our obligations as board members to do our jobs. We cannot engage in back and forth incendiary debate for the purpose of disruption over and over and over again. It is unfair to you. it is unfair to us and it is unfair to all the stakeholders in this district and unfortunately that's what's been happening. So while I appreciate very much what you're saying and what you said and will be thinking very much about what you what you said and what the impact of this policy is,
089I assure you that it's really designed to be fulfilling our obligations from a governance perspective. I hope you will consider my point of view as as I am thinking about yours. So thank you very much. I I wanted to jump in on a board comment. Um I was also going to just acknowledge that it was um teacher appreciation week. Um and that I hope that this is something that we could think about more than in just a week. Um our teachers do so much for us. uh we ha I have myself three uh children in the district and as of next year I will have all four of my children um in the district and um it was really the the faculty that is just making all of the difference for my children and has
090made such a difference in in my family's life and um so many of the teachers have you know um been such advocates for my kids and I I really um I I can't thank you all enough. I am devastated that I'm missing teacher appreciation week this week. Uh usually I volunteer every year at the um ET Hamilton's teacher appreciation lunchon. It's one of my favorite events of the year and so so fun to be there. Um and I'm bummed that I'm missing it this year. Um but know that I'm with you in spirit and I am celebrating you from afar. Um I just also want to uh comment back on the um on the um on the policy on speech. Um I it this all sounds great what some of my colleagues are saying but
091it is not what they have said and put in writing behind the scenes. It's not what they said in our debate just now. You witnessed what you saw, right? Um I made comments. Um I don't and and I I wonder if if the policy were in place, would it have would they have stopped me from speaking what I said tonight? Um and I think that that is the question. Uh I think that that is the intention of of the policy. It's what has been told. Um several board members said, "See, look at what she's doing. This is what we need to stop." And I question what exactly I said that was so wrong. I pointed out what I disagreed with in the policy. Um and I I think that that is exactly what we're supposed
092to be doing is explaining why we vote a certain way and is what I've been trying to do um my entire time on this board. Um again, I appreciate our teachers. I say that in words and I hope I I try always to do it in actions as well. Um and uh thank you. That's all I have to say. Any other comments from the board? Okay. We do not have executive session. Our next meeting date will be June 9th, 2025. It is a regular meeting and it will be here at the administrative building. Can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting? So moved. Rudder second. All in favor? I I motion passes.